Thank Goodness I Brought My Rhubarb Cobbler

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. I was baking bread because it's been awhile and there's nothing like homemade bread on a rainy evening. I made a batch of molasses cookies too, for the kids to take to Sunday School in the morning. They never complain about Sunday School because their friends are there, and someone always sends cupcakes or cookies or a sack of donuts. The ones with filling are the kids' favorites and, I'll admit, mine too. Especially Bavarian crème.

While the kids are in Sunday School, I head down the hall to the church library where, every Sunday at 9:00 my group meets. It's listed in the church booklet as a "Bible Study" but it seems much more like a support group. Some weeks there are seven of us, other weeks twelve or thirteen, and by now we know each other's stories and we spend more time talking about our lives than we do discussing the Good Book. We sit in a circle and drink black coffee and talk about fears and regrets, and tell stories and argue and often there is laughter and sometimes there are tears.

This Sunday began with a discussion on washing feet and most people agreed the whole idea of having one's feet washed in the Biblical sense was unsettling, but I must say, deep down, I thought it sounded rather nice. I must have been daydreaming because everyone was looking at me and Mr. McAllister said, "Well?" What, I said. "Has anyone ever washed your feet?" he asked, and my cheeks got pink and I said, Well, no. But last year for Christmas Mr. Sundberg gave me a gift certificate for a body massage at the Grapes of Joy spa and when my sister-in-law was enrolled in beauty school I had several facials and a paraffin dip. I had to explain the paraffin was for my hands which get pretty rough in the winter and there really is nothing like immersing one's hands in a bowl of melted wax. Mrs. Sanderson sat there listening and let out a little gasp. "How wonderful," she whispered and then sighed and said, "It's been as long as I can remember since Charlie and I as much as held hands." Well, we all got pretty quiet then and Harriet said, "Thank goodness I brought my rhubarb cobbler, " and Jack said he'd go get more coffee and Mrs. Sanderson leaned over and said, "Now where would I go to get a paraffin dip?"

We don't live our lives with background music, but if we did, that lovely "When I Lost You" from Saturday's show would have been playing all that time, followed by the Bebopareebop song as Mrs. Sanderson served up cobbler and we all wondered where she got rhubarb this time of year.